Au
Overview
The high-grade Honker low sulfidation gold veins were discovered in 1981 by Anaconda Minerals Company and are located approximately six miles north of the Illinois Creek Mine. This prospect consists of several sub-parallel, steeply dipping, gold bearing silicified and brecciated veins that trend N20-25E. The main Honker vein is a 2-4 meter wide deeply oxidized low sulfidation vein exposed over roughly 800 meters of strike with abundant surface channel sampling of greater than >10 g/t Au and some exceptional samples of >30g/t Au.
Two large (160 lbs each) bulk samples of the Honker mineralization were collected in 1982 and analyzed at Anaconda’s Tucson, AZ laboratory. The historic bulk surface samples assayed an average of 26.5 g/t (0.85 oz/ton) gold and 26.8 g/t (0.86 oz/ton) silver and produced a column heap leach recovery of 82% and 92% for agitated leach. Three historic Anaconda holes tested the vein and returned an average of 2.6 meters of 5.3 gpt Au. Although the historical Anaconda data is non-NI 43-101 compliant it does indicate significant high-grade gold values.
Initial exploration drilling (6 drill holes) by WAM in 2021 at Honker encountered up to 3 mineralized intervals in drill hole HNK22-06 grading 2.1 meters of 3.98 g/t Au, 2.4 meters of 4.44 g/t Au and 2.1 meters of 5.32 g/t Au. The gold mineralization remains open down dip and along strike.
The prospect consists of a minimum of two sub-parallel, steeply dipping, gold bearing silicified vein breccia structures that trend N20-25E. The gold-silver resource is open down dip and along strike. The main Honker structure is a 2-4 meter wide deeply oxidized low sulfidation vein exposed over roughly 800 meters of strike with abundant surface channel sampling more than 10-30 gpt Au. Only three historic Anaconda holes tested the vein and returned an average of 2.6 meters of 5.3 gpt Au.
Geology & Exploration
In June 2014, Western Alaska Minerals (then Western Alaska Copper & Gold) completed a trenching work program on Honker utilizing the CAT D-6 bulldozer and Hitachi EX 100 excavator, to cut 22 exploratory trenches. This enabled WAM to confirm, extend, sample and assay the known gold-bearing surface mineralization at both the Main Honker and West Honker veins. A total of 3,952 feet of trenches were dug. The program collected 17 large “bucket” samples that ranged in weight from 21.2 to 63.2 lbs. These samples were shipped by barge to Tacoma, WA and then trucked to the Resource Development Inc. (RDI) metallurgical laboratory in Denver, CO for analysis.
Later that fall, RDI stated in their resulting report “that a relatively simple milling process could be used to separate gold from the ore (rock). RDI proposes a two-stage recovery process, including gravity separation from coarsely ground material followed by cyanide leaching of a more finely ground material followed by cyanide leaching of a more finely ground product”.
Two samples collected from the West Honker vein structure returned assays of 18.5 g/MT gold or 0.5 OPT. These samples were taken from the same area that Anaconda reported finding similar values of 0.5 OPT, and these samples validate West Honker as a viable target for further exploration.
The qualified person who reviewed and approved the technical disclosure on this website is Stuart Morris, P. Geo., a qualified person as defined under National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Morris is an independent consultant with a MS in Economic Geology and 40 plus years of experience in mineral resources, mine, and exploration. He is a Registered Geologist with the British Columbia Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists (BC-APEG) No. 135066 and with the Arizona State Board of Technical Registration No. 16289.
